UNSAFE DEPOSITS

LA Safety Deposit Biz Let Dealers Stash Guns, Fentanyl, ‘Huge Stacks of $100 Bills,’ Feds Say

Officers spent five days emptying the contents of the anonymous safety deposit boxes at U.S. Private Vaults.

A Los Angeles strip mall business going by the name U.S. Private Vaults permitted drug dealers to store guns, fentanyl, and “huge stacks of $100 bills” in safety deposit boxes rented anonymously, according to an indictment unsealed Friday. Authorities spent five days emptying the contents of the safes in March but only today revealed why. U.S. Private Vaults advertised its services with “We don’t even want to know your name,” and employees there and at Gold Business, which shared the same address, facilitated laundering cash from drug sales via gold, prosecutors allege. Retinal and fingerprint scans allowed customers to access their belongings. At least one customer has filed suit challenging the seizure of his belongings from his safe, asserting that individual customers have not been charged with any crimes.